One of the first things that irked Philippe Clement when he took over as Rangers manager was the condition of the players.
The new Gers manager said that although the team had a long injury list, it was also unprepared for the challenges that lay ahead.
With his Rangers team looking better every week, Philippe Clement will probably make changes at Ibrox tonight. But what has changed since the start of the season?
Philippe Clement already getting Rangers squad into shape
Pre-season was when the warning flags appeared.
The occasional good play segment was present, but overall the performances were subpar and the outcomes weren’t really impressive.
The guys’ obvious weariness was what caught my attention the most.
Following Olympiakos’ 3-1 victory, Michael Beale gave the following explanation:
We trained hard yesterday and had a double session on Monday, so I know where the boys are at. We’re pushing them, and when the season starts, we’ll reap the rewards. For now, I’m good.
“We know we have to push the group because from the start of the season, we go into a three-game week for the rest of the month. It’s important we have things in our legs and I don’t want to stop training hard going into a game.”
Sadly, we never got to enjoy the advantages, since Philippe Clement quickly took Beale’s spot on the Rangers.
What is perplexing is why, instead of focusing on form or a game plan, the club appeared so unfit after spending the most of the preseason performing double practices and entering games with tired legs.
Even though Clement has only been with the team for a few months and has had limited opportunity to put his ideas into practice, his pre-match press conference statement has generated some questions over the efficacy of his strategies:
“We are growing, we are getting better, I think it’s clear for everybody, it’s also clear in the data.
“That there is more distance run, there are more sprints, there is more high intensity than a few months ago but we’re not at our top.
“You need a really good preparation to go to the next level. In this level we are pushing things to make it better and I think it will be better at the end of the season also.”
Thus, despite the lack of a preseason and a packed schedule, Philippe Clement has improved his Rangers team.
Although Jack Ade had a stellar reputation prior to coming to Aughenhowie, he cannot be held entirely accountable for the expectations of the former manager. Tom Taylor has taken Ade’s place as head of performance.
But it appears that Clement is controlling the players’ time on the field so they can engage in more specialised and customised training during the intermissions instead of merely running laps around the practice field.
The interesting thing is that Rangers under Philippe Clement still have room to grow, according to the manager himself.
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